Time to "put the hammer down". Looking bedraggled and world-weary, with paint chips falling down like rain, and the fake window pane criss-cross inserts tilted at grotesque angles or even missing, the Washington Hardware Store begins its retirement, leaving its customers to wonder what life will be like on the street without the security of the familiar and ever-popular 'big hammer' towering over the sidewalk, because most likely the new owners of the building will remove it, as it will have nothing to do with their livelihood, and, so, we'll see the cycle of life begin anew, as it's out with the old, in with the new, the king is dead, long live the king; and thus, the longest run-on sentence of this website comes to a jangling halt. (Photo and caption by Thomas Allen Kelley)